Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Milan's future in the Champions League is hanging by the thinnest of threads after going down 3-2 at home to Manchester United. Ronaldinho had put the Italians in front, but a freak goal from Paul Scholes put the Red Devils level before Wayne Rooney scored twice in the second half. Clarence Seedorf halved the deficit late on, while Michael Carrick was sent off.

Alexandre Pato set his stall out for the evening by tricking Patrice Evra and winning a free kick just inside the Manchester United half. David Beckham's delivery wasn't the best, but Evra's clearance went straight to Ronaldinho, who volleyed home via a deflection off Carrick.

The Rossoneri were flying, and Ronaldinho was bringing out the tricks within the first five minutes. The Brazilian then tested van der Sar with an effort from close range after effortlessly beating Rio Ferdinand, but it was gathered comfortably.

Sir Alex Ferguson was chewing furiously on the sidelines as his side attempted to get into the game, but they should have been two down in the 11th minute. Thiago Silva made a superb run deep into the Red Devils' half to play Luca Antonini in, but the full back pulled his shot wide of the near post when shooting across goal would have been a better option.

Ji-Sung Park threatened to break into the penalty area but was denied by a superb tackle from Daniele Bonera, before Ferdinand looked to have brought Ronaldinho down on the edge of the box but the referee waved away his protests.

The majority of the pressure was coming from the hosts, and both Evra and Rafael were struggling to deal with the overlapping runs from Antonini and Beckham. Manchester United were not helping themselves by frequently giving the ball away in midfield, and Evans had to make an inch-perfect tackle on Pato on the half hour.

The hosts were made to pay for their missed chances when Manchester United equalized 10 minutes before the break in the most fortunate of circumstances. Darren Fletcher's low ball in to the box was aimed at Paul Scholes, who missed his initial shot but the ball hit his standing leg and trickled into the net off the upright. It was their first away goal against the Rossoneri.

Just before the break, Park fouled Massimo Ambrosini 25 yards from goal. It was in perfect Beckham territory, but the former Manchester United man hit his effort over the bar. While the visitors looked more dangerous towards the end of the half, the referee called time on the first 45 minutes with the scores at 1-1.

Fletcher had a good opportunity just after the break when Nani chipped a cross in for the Scot to head towards goal from a yard out, but he could only head wide from a tricky angle. Pato should also have done better with a header as he ghosted away from Evra to get onto the end of substitute Giuseppe Favalli's cross, but failed to hit the target.

Moments later, Edwin van der Sar made an excellent one-handed save from an Andrea Pirlo piledriver, and the veteran had dive low to his left to prevent Ronaldinho from restoring the lead on the hour mark.

The ineffective Nani was then replaced, and Ferguson's move paid dividends immediately. Substitute Luis Antonio Valencia beat Favalli on the right hand side before chipping a cross in for Wayne Rooney to head perfectly back across goal into the far corner.

Manchester United sensed that they could gain a stranglehold on the tie by scoring a third, and immediately went in search of the game's fourth goal. The visitors were knocking it around at will, and Rooney struck another shot off target after a neat step-over from Scholes.

It was merely putting off the inevitable, and in the 75th minute Fletcher floated in a perfect ball between Nesta and Silva for Rooney to head home unchallenged from a few yards out.

10 minutes later, Milan gave themselves a lifeline. Ronaldinho received a fine ball from Thiago Silva in the penalty area, and he sent in a low cross for Clarence Seedorf to flick home from close range. Seconds later, 'Dinho' sliced open the visitors' defense for Filippo Inzaghi to strike at goal, but it flew over the bar.

It was not the only opportunity the Rossoneri had late on as Ambrosini had a shot blocked from close range before Alessandro Nesta and Thiago Silva tried to head the same ball from the consequent corner, and the chance was wasted.

Michael Carrick picked up a second yellow card deep in injury time, but Manchester United withstood the late pressure and will take a precious lead to Old Trafford. The Rossoneri, meanwhile, will be regretting their many missed chances.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Avatar has sailed past Titanic to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. In just 47 days, Avatar has grossed $601.1 million, while Titanic made $600.8 million in its entire run and took 252 days to cross the $600 million mark.

With this milestone, Avatar has completed the triple crown of box office gross records: first, it topped the foreign-only chart on Jan. 23, then it reigned over the worldwide chart (foreign plus domestic) on Jan. 25, and now, as of Feb. 2, it resides atop the domestic chart. Its foreign haul has risen to $1.474 billion. Add in domestic, and its worldwide gross stands at an incredible $2.075 billion.

Breaking domestic down, nearly 81 percent of Avatar's gross is from 3D presentations. Normal 3D accounts for over 64 percent of the gross, while IMAX 3D accounts for more than 16 percent. That leaves the 2D theaters with an over 19 percent share of the gross.

According to the National Association of Theater Owners, the latest available statistic for national average ticket price is $7.61 for the fourth quarter of 2009. IMAX reports an average ticket price of $14.58, but, at the time of this writing, there is no official word for regular 3D presentations. A survey of theaters across the country shows a $2 to $4 premium for 3D over 2D and indicates a $10 average ticket price. With these stats one can estimate 38.7 million tickets have been sold in regular 3D, 15.2 million sold in 2D and 6.8 million tickets sold in IMAX 3D.

All told, Avatar's estimated admission count is 60.7 million thus far, or less than Titanic through the same point (47 days in). It's also less than half of Titanic's 128 million total estimated admissions. Emphasizing the impressiveness of Avatar, it took such recent blockbusters as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Spider-Man 2, The Passion of the Christ and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith their entire runs to reach around 60 million admissions.

Unfortunately, the industry does not track admissions, only dollars. Absent proper admissions tracking, estimated admissions are determined by dividing the grosses by the average ticket prices, but this method is certainly iffy and should not be seen as definitive. It's best used for recent releases that have complete box office records, but, even then, one may know the national average ticket price but not the average for an individual movie. The audiences vary demographically and regionally for each movie, which means different average ticket prices. What's more, for a picture like Avatar, the method does not address leveling the playing field for the possible deterrent of higher ticket prices, how the 3D presentations impact 2D attendance or how 3D currently has far fewer theaters than past 2D blockbusters.

However, it's better to have an approximation than to have nothing. Only the money may matter to Hollywood, but attendance is important from an audience and cultural perspective. The disparity between Avatar and Titanic is so huge according to this method, that it is safe to say that Titanic sold a boatload more tickets.

Pointing out the estimated admissions in no way diminishes the box office achievement of Avatar. The purpose is to add perspective. There is no doubt that Avatar is a phenomenon in its own right with its own unique set of circumstances and that it stands as one of the greatest box office runs of all time.

Arsenal had started brightly, and Andrey Arshavin had an early opportunity. He broke down the left flank and burst into the left hand side of the penalty area. Cutting inside of Wes Brown, he aimed a shot for the far corner of the goal with his right foot, but it was loose and went wide.

United continued the high tempo start to the game with two dangerous crosses into the box. They broke down the right with Nani attacking Gael Clichy before feeding Darren Fletcher on the overlap. The Scot crossed low into the six yard box towards Rooney, but pressure from William Gallas resulted in the ball being cleared.

The second chance came as Nani skipped past Clichy on the right flank and attacked the byline. He cut the ball back to the far post where Michael Carrick stood unmarked. Just as the Englishman was shaping to shoot, Song came out of nowhere to knock the ball out for a corner. From the set piece Denilson headed back towards his own goal, where Samir Nasri made a goal line clearance from his position on the right-hand post.

Arshavin nearly opened the scoring in the 13th minute. The Russian dribbled at Brown who retreated into the penalty area, Arshavin then jinked to shift the ball onto his right foot and rifled towards the right-hand corner of the goal. Edwin van der Sar was scrambling, but Arshavin's effort flew inches past the right-hand post.

Arsenal continued to press forward, interchanging passes sleekly in midfield. Arshavin broke again and took an air shot just inside the penalty area, before the Gunners attacked down the right with Tomas Rosicky slipping Bacary Sagna in on the overlap. The Frenchman cut the ball back towards Nasri, whose flick took the ball off the toe of an aghast Cesc Fabregas.

Manchester United responded with a series of half-chances of their own. Their direct passing movements troubled Arsenal's defence, with Paul Scholes peeling off the shoulder of Thomas Vermaelen and finding space in the box. Scholes received the ball and controlled, but Gallas pounced with a sliding challenge before the Englishman could shoot.

Nani engineered two chances in the Arsenal penalty area, turning in the six yard box and firing into the side netting from the right. Minutes later and Nani was bursting into the right-hand side of the box, Carrick slipped the ball through to the 23-year-old and only a last ditch block by Clichy could deny Nani.

Devastating | Arsenal can't cope with Nani's trickery

United opened the scoring thanks to a superb run by Nani. Starting on the right flank in double coverage, he flicked the ball in between Clichy and Nasri and entered the box from the right, he then dummied past Denilson and attacked the byline. He got his head up to spot Park at the back post, and chipped the ball towards him. Almunia had to deal with it, and stretched above his head to flick the ball with his fingertips. Unfortunately for the Gunners his touch could only tip the ball into his own goal: 1-0 to the visitors.

The Red Devils scored a second in the 37th minute with a glorious goal on the counter attack. Nani burst down the right and advanced towards the penalty area, slowing to a trot, he saw Rooney powering into the penalty area. The Portuguese fed his team-mate with a perfectly weighted pass and Rooney hammered the ball into the bottom right-hand corner with a first time strike: 2-0 to United.

Arsenal could have had a goal back before half-time, Arshavin wasted another opportunity, with Rosicky turning provider this time. The Czech Republic midfielder latched onto a stray pass on the right and immediately played Arshavin through. The Russian had time to compose himself, but lashed wide of the right-hand post.

Song had a chance in first half injury time, he bundled his way through a crowded penalty area before stabbing the ball wide of the left-hand post.

The second half started with a stinging drive from Rooney. He picked the ball up on the left flank and cut back onto his right foot, aiming for the far corner of the goal from 20 yards. His shot was powerful and caught Almunia off guard, as the Spaniard fumbled the ball away from danger. It wasn't convincing goal keeping.

Manchester United tore through the Arsenal defence to extend their lead in the 52nd minute. Fletcher lobbed the ball over the top for Park to run onto, the South Korean advanced on goal with only Clichy on the cover. The French defender let Park continue his run, as United had runners attacking the space behind him. It was a mistake, as the midfielder entered the penalty area and slotted coolly into the bottom left-hand corner past Almunia: 3-0 to United.

Arsenal refused to lie down and accept defeat and continued to search for a goal. Fabregas smashed goalwards from 20 yards, Van der Sar dived to his left but the shot cleared the crossbar.

Song had a half-chance for a consolation, an overhead kick in the right-hand side of the box set up the Cameroon international. He controlled on his chest and went for the bottom left corner, Van der Sar didn't move as the ball zipped just wide of the post.

Arsene Wenger threw on Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner, and Emmanuel Eboue in an attempt to breathe some life into the hosts, but time leaked away with little in the way of opportunities.

Arsenal had a consolation in the 80th minute, Nasri crossed into the penalty area from the right flank and United cleared to the edge of the box. Vermaelen hit an acrobatic volley that looked to be heading straight for Van der Sar, but it deflected off Jonny Evans and into the United goal: 3-1.

The goal invigorated the Gunners, and they piled forward in search of a second. Arshavin drove into the penalty area from the right, dancing past United defenders before Evans slid in to concede a corner. Walcott had a free header from the set piece but it lacked conviction and United cleared.

Arshavin won Arsenal a corner from the opposite flank and Vermaelen lost his marker as the ball was crossed into the middle. The Belgian defender's head was strong, but was going straight at Van der Sar until Patrice Evra flicked the ball clear.

The comeback didn't materialise, however, and despite five minutes of stoppage time, Arsenal couldn't break through again. Manchester United close the gap on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table to one point.

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